Just a couple of genes are responsible for some of the longest running and most contentious arguments in evolutionary biology, a new study has shown. The study, led by Antonis Rokas of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, US, analysed hundreds of thousands of genes sequenced from target organisms to try to resolve heredity issues that up until now have seemed intractable. …

Researchers have attached cameras to whales to unlock the mysteries of their life in Antarctica… and it is revealing a bonanza of information. The Australian Antarctic Division said electronic tags with cameras and motion sensors were being placed on humpback whales off the Antarctic Peninsula in the Gerlache Strait. The tags were being attached via suction cups on the giant …

After Apple hit Qualcomm with a barrage of lawsuits earlier this year, the chip maker is countersuing Apple right back. Qualcomm today filed its Answers and Counterclaims to Apple’s January lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California. The full details of the suit can be read in a 139-page document (PDF) released by Qualcomm, but the company has five …

NASA has scheduled a major press conference where it plans to reveal a new discovery about ‘ocean worlds in our solar system.’ A spokesperson for Nasa said: ‘These new discoveries will help inform future ocean world exploration – including Nasa’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission planned for launch in the 2020s – and the broader search for life beyond Earth.’ The …

Exercise enthusiasts often wonder whether it’s better to eat or fast before a workout. A new study is the first of its kind to show the effects of eating versus fasting on gene expression in adipose (fat) tissue in response to exercise. This study highlights the different roles fat plays in powering and responding to exercise. The study is published …

Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut touched down safely in central Kazakhstan Monday following a 173-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Georgia Tech graduate Shane Kimbrough and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the station 250 miles above the planet early Monday morning. They landed in Kazakhstan 3.5 hours later to officially end a 173-day mission that began …

A sharp rise in infections stemming from a parasitic worm that invades the human brain has health officials in the Hawaiian island of Maui worried. “It’s like having a slow-moving bullet go through your brain,” state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park says, explaining the effects of rat lungworm disease. According to ABC News, the worm lives in the lungs of rats, …

This is the incredible moment two stars collided 500 years ago, causing a spectacular explosion still visible from Earth. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have examined the widely scattered debris from this explosive event, gaining new insights into the sometimes-fierce relationship among sibling stars. Shortly after starting to form some 100,000 years ago, several protostars in the …

A 58-year-old American citizen was charged after a mock explosive device was found in a suitcase at a security checkpoint. Passengers were taken off a Chicago-bound United Airlines flight at Toronto’s Pearson Airport Thursday as a precaution. A spokesperson for Transport Canada told the News in a statement via email that “as part of Transport Canada’s security oversight program, aviation …

Nvidia, a company that design and develops graphics processing units has just launched its flagship product called the TITAN Xp. A version of the Titan X which comes with a fully-enabled GP102 Pascal GPU for a total of 3840 CUDA cores. Sharing the same DNA as the earlier available Titan X, the new Titan Xp Uses a slightly beefier fully-enabled …

Body weight plays a significant role in how much benefit children may get from consuming “good” fats, new study suggests. The scientists compared fatty acid uptake after kids took a supplement to both overall body weight and body-mass index. The more a child weighed, the smaller the measurement was of two key omega-3 fatty acids in their bloodstream. And the …